Ex-BIOHAZARD Frontman SCOTT ROBERTS Says He Quit The Band Because He 'Just Wasn't Happy'
August 4, 2020Scott Roberts says that he left BIOHAZARD because he "wasn't happy" anymore.
Roberts, who played guitar on BIOHAZARD's 2005 album "Means To An End", rejoined the band in June 2011 as the replacement for bassist and co-vocalist Evan Seinfeld. Scott fronted BIOHAZARD for nearly four years before exiting the group in February 2016.
Roberts addressed his latest departure from BIOHAZARD in a new interview with the "Aftershocks" podcast. Asked if he was burnt out from being in a band at the time of his BIOHAZARD exit, Scott said (see video below): "I wasn't burnt out at that time. I just wasn't happy with BIOHAZARD at that time. There was one guy that I wasn't getting along with very well, and it made touring not fun anymore for me. My reason to stick around was to make a new record that was great and I'd be proud of and all that stuff, and then it became kind of clear that wasn't gonna happen, so I was, like, 'What am I doing it for?' So I quit."
According to Roberts, BIOHAZARD was "doing really good" on the live circuit before his decision to leave the group.
"I was actually in the band longer than anybody else that wasn't the original four guys," he said. "I was in the band twice, actually; I played guitar the first time. So I was in the band, like, seven years, I think. The second time, when I was singing, at first, we were, like, 'Is this gonna work?' 'Cause it's really hard to replace a singer. In history, how many times has that actually worked? IRON MAIDEN, AC/DC… a handful of times. At first, it was definitely weird; people didn't know what to expect. But in time, the shows were getting bigger again, we were headlining festivals again — it was rolling, it was happening, it was working. But it all kind of fell apart."
In a 2017 interview with "The Ex Man" podcast, BIOHAZARD guitarist/vocalist Billy Graziadei discussed Roberts's split from the group, saying that the other members of the band "got into some issues" with Scott once work began on a new studio album. "He just grew out of it," Billy claimed. "He was a fucking rigger in New York in the union, making tons of money, and leaving his family to go on tour for making a little bit of money, it didn't pay for him. So I think that started harboring some issues with him. And eventually we were in the studio doing the new record, and we had some exchanges back and forth, and he quit. And we were, like, 'Fuck! Here we are again.'"
Scott later responded to Billy's comments, saying that he quit BIOHAZARD because it was no longer fun. "I was okay with losing money on tour as long as I was enjoying myself," Roberts wrote on his Facebook page. "I would have kept doing that. The real problem was I wasn't getting along with one of the members and wasn't enjoying myself on tour with them anymore. The only other reason for me to keep doing it, was to make a new record that I was into and proud of. When another member of the band made it clear to me that wasn't going to happen, there was no reason for me to do it anymore. That's the simplest way I can explain it."
He added: "The only reason to be in a band is for the love of it. Not because it's a career. If you don't enjoy what you're doing, you shouldn't do it. That's my opinion, for what's it worth."
In "The Ex Man" interview, Billy said that BIOHAZARD's collaboration with Roberts "just worked. The band without Evan, in a small, hardcore way, it's like VAN HALEN without David Lee Roth. It was different, it was something new, but it was different… Scott had the fire that we all had, and it just seemed to work, and people accepted him. He was great, he fit great, his vibe was great, he was all about the music, loved hardcore, loved what we did, he was really into it, and it was fucking awesome. So we toured, we kept doing it. And we saw the crowds getting bigger and the people accepted him and the BIOHAZARD name... the brand started growing again; instead of being stagnant or declining, it started to grow. And the shows kept doing better and better. And we were, like, 'Cool. Let's keep this going.'"
Seinfeld made his final recorded appearance with BIOHAZARD on 2012's "Reborn In Defiance" album, which marked the first LP featuring the band's original lineup in 18 years.
Roberts is currently playing guitar and singing for a New York power trio called THE TAKE. The band, which is rounded out by Will Shepler (MADBALL, AGNOSTIC FRONT) on drums and Carlos Congote (ROYAL HOUNDS, LEGION 76) on bass, released its self-titled debut album (which was produced by Roberts) in July 2019.
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